Review
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Shadow Tower is From Software's fourth attempt in the
first-person action-RPG genre, following the King's Field trilogy
(only two of which were released in North America). For those who
don't know the King's Field series, it was a relatively popular
first-generation, first-person action-RPG in Japan. You roamed
dungeons, fought monsters using different weapons and magic, gain
experience, and leveled up. The controls took a little getting
used to, plus the game ran at 15 frames per second, causing
frustration among some gamers. The game also didn't give you much
direction; you had to piece everything together yourself. Shadow
Tower is pretty similar, save for a few exceptions.The story
takes place on the continent of Eclipse, where the holy land of
Zepter lies. In this land is a sealed tower guarded by the kings
of surrounding nations, keeping to traditions passed down from
their ancestors. A long time ago a tragedy descended upon the
kingdom of Eclipse. There was a crown with a single eye, and its
terrible gaze snuffed out the kingdom in one night, leaving
nothing but a gargantuan hole. That single-eyed crown that once
glowed so ominously is now closed and quietly sealed within a
tower. Ages have passed, and darkness has once again consumed the
peaceful land. You will take the role of Ruus Hardy and go into
the darkness to fight against evil creatures and monsters in
search of the crown with the single eye.Shadow Tower introduces
new features and changes from King's Field. Pressing different
combinations of buttons on your PlayStation controller lets you
switch weapons, shields, and magic from your primary to secondary
and vice versa. This is very helpful, because one thing that's a
real nuisance about this game is that accessing the menu screen
requires loading (a Now Loading screen even pops up!). The game
also eliminates the element of gaining experience and leveling
up. Instead, it is replaced with soul points (SP), which can be
used to enhance physical and magical attributes, such as hit
points (HP) and magic points (MP). SPs are gained by defeating
monsters or through special items.The game has also brought along
a few elements from the game Diablo, mostly in its use of
inventory. Weapons and armor deteriorate as you use them and will
eventually break without repair. You can spend your HP to repair
worn-out or broken items. This brings a lack of balance to the
gameplay because you have a limited number of potions to regain
HP. You can only find HP potions in dungeons, by killing
monsters, or by trading in items. Surviving the different layers
of dungeons is one thing, but trying to keep your HP and weapons
at their best is something that can't be done easily. Also, you
rarely earn money from killing monsters, so you are limited as to
what you can buy in stores. The polygonal models of creatures and
monsters show that the graphics have certainly improved over
King's Field, but the frame rate still remains an issue. Although
15 frames per second in King's Field seemed bad at that time,
looking at Shadow Tower in 20 frames per second still just
doesn't cut it in these days of 30-60fps games. Even the pilot
demo of King's Field II (which was only available a few years ago
at the Tokyo Game Show in Japan) ran at 30 frames per second. So
the technology is there, just not implemented. It's too bad.The
dark, gloomy overture that plays across the main title might get
you excited about the game's soundtrack, but the game only
contains heavy footsteps and growling, and no music whatsoever.
One can respect the developers' attempt to keep the dark mood and
atmosphere by not putting any music in the game, but it just
isn't effective. Sure, there are certain parts where you are
startled at the sudden appearances of evil creatures from dead
corpses, but the absence of music is still disappointing. In
place of a soundtrack are character voice-overs. But while many
of the game's characters speak, the voice acting is totally
lifeless. You come across a shop and pause. There is silence, and
then the store clerk speaks, "I don't care if you're human, as
long as you're a customer." And then silence again. Very boring
stuff.There are other features in the game where you can try to
fill an encyclopedia with a complete list of all the creatures in
the game. You can also collect rare weapons and armor and place
them as bets in a two-player arena mode, but this will likely
only attract hard-core players of the game.
Shadow Tower is a blend of King's Field and more actioney RPGs
like Diablo - a mix that only ends up bringing frustration rather
than a sense of adventure. The game was released over a year ago
in Japan, and it shows; it looks extremely outdated when compared
with current PlayStation games. If you are a hard-core fan of the
King's Field series, you may want to give this one a try. But
others will just be wasting their time. --Ike Sato
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